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Photo by Juan Nieto

In celebrating 11 years of OnesToWatch, we had some of our most iconic alumni tell us their OneToWatch. For Jack Harlow, that someone is James Savage. 

James' relationship with Jack began through a mutual connection: his manager, who felt compelled to send his music to Jack. What started as a mentorship gradually evolved into a genuine friendship, with Harlow encouraging James through creative blocks and pushing him to trust his instincts, eventually leading to the making of his debut album “PINE”. Today, that relationship has come full circle, with James joining Harlow on a track and on tour. “I’m honored that he would ask me to come and work on his project and give me my own 59 seconds on a song. I feel really grateful, but it also feels like what's supposed to be happening, you know? We see each other eye to eye, so collaborating feels right,” says James.

There is a philosophy that he carries with him everywhere, one that was first planted by his father and later echoed back to him by Jack: input is output. What goes into you will come out of you, so if you want to make great art, you better consume great art. “I’m sure one day I will repeat that lesson to someone else,” he jokes. Growing up in a household where only gospel music was allowed, James sees the value in smart musical consumption; still the genre discovery that occurred during his later teens was an eye-opening moment that set him up to find his sound.

His career officially started, as many great things do: in a friend's attic. Armed with a passion for music and a $99 microphone, he began to learn to record himself and build his own singular take on R&B. Moving to Louisville at 18 accelerated things and gave him the push he needed to leave college and get serious about music. However, it wasn't until 2024 that he decided to release music, once his sound finally matched the high bar he had set for himself: raw, honest lyricism and soulful live instrumentation now define his music.

PINE (his debut album) is the fullest expression of that, with songs full of softness and lyrics that feel incredibly honest. James takes risks in making long songs that take you down a jam session-like journey and feel surprisingly peaceful. More than anything, it is music made entirely on his own terms. "I'm just trying to impress myself," he tells me. For him the idea of making timeless music starts with him being utterly and completely obsessed with what he puts out. ¨I do try my best to make sure my decision making is based on my taste and not other people's. If I'm gonna have any longevity, I have to do what feels right to me.”  

The next step in building timelessness is to get close and personal with the audience, get their feedback and use it to make greater music. “Live shows are something I've been excited for, and I made my project with that in mind” James tells me. His upcoming tour as Jack’s opener will be his biggest undertaking yet, and will surely bring him closer to the career longevity he is already working towards. 

OnesToWatch: Hey James. Are you in the studio? I see the padded background. Is that your happy place? 

James Savage: You already know it is! I love coming here. Right now we're working on this tour we're about to go on so, I come here basically every day.

Opening for Jack Harlow! How are you feeling about that tour, by the way? How are you adapting your sound?

I'm pumped. I've never done a tour run that's been this long and this extensive, we're in a lot of different places. I'm excited to support my dog (Jack), get out there and touch the audience. 

Live shows are something I've been excited for, and I made my project with that in mind. That's why I have a lot of live instrumentation. I have been adding different things, adding drums in particular places just to pick up the tempo and to make things exciting because the project that I put out is a little slow. 

Are you bringing a lot of musicians with you? 

Yeah, the band playing with Jack was kind enough to play with me as well. So I'm gonna have a 4-piece, it's great! 

Wow. So they're working double duty! In honor of 11 years of this magazine, where were you 11 years ago?

Yeah! 11 years ago I was 15, going to high school, playing basketball with my friends, you know? Trying to get a car (laughs) and listening to T R A P S O U L. Henderson (where I grew up) is kind of boring. It's a beautiful place, but if I had to go back to live there, it would be when I'm 65, you know (laughs)? I'm a country boy at heart though.

I know you filmed the video for your song “100 Years” there. What are some of your favorite things from there - from home? 

Thomason's Barbecue, their baked beans are amazing. There's the Performing Art Center that I would do a lot of choir concerts at, That's where I honed my love for singing. We also have great parks! 

I'm in Louisville right now though. I moved here when I was 18 to go to college, then I dropped out and I've been chasing music ever since. 

When you were 15 did you think you knew you'd do that? Was it an easy decision?

It was easy internally, but hard externally. I knew what I wanted to do with my life, and I knew I had to make a decision to not let other people's opinions about me not being in college affect my decision making, but it was hard explaining that to my parents. 

Ultimately, there was no need for me to be in this place (college) when I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I've known since I was young that I wanted to sing, make my own music and be on stage. I just didn't know that I could make it a reality, just because of where I was at the time and the resources I had available to me. 

Speaking of resources, what is your advice or your word of wisdom to anyone who also is coming from a smaller town or a place where they don't have all the resources? 

YouTube University is great. There's a lot of people on there just dying to get information out and telling you how they did it. But also just try your best to find people that are interested in the same things you're interested in. Because that's kind of how I got going. I had a friend named Marvin and his brother, DJ, as well as my friend Jackson, and I would just go to their houses and they would record me, and then they taught me how to record myself.

Once I knew I could take it with me wherever I went. I bought a laptop, an audio interface and a $99 microphone, and I had my studio wherever I went, you know what I'm saying?

I was watching some interviews you did, and you were saying that you have very high standards for everything that you put out, which is great. But how do you reconcile that with that phase where you're still experimenting and maybe figuring out what you want to do?

Well, it wasn't easy. I didn't formally put anything out for a while. I put out an EP, but I took it down after like a few months - there was decent stuff out there, but hopefully no one ever finds it. It was just a lot of trial and error for me personally and I was just really intent on not putting out things that I couldn't live with. 

But I don't recommend doing that. I recommend putting things out because you learn a lot from putting things out and seeing the reception.

You've said you wanted your music to feel timeless. What makes a timeless song for you? 

If I've conveyed the emotion that I've tried to convey in a way that's potent and hits me personally - because I make music for me. If I listen to it and it makes me feel and I listen to it over and over and over again, and that feeling doesn't dim - that's timeless to me. I'm just trying to impress myself. 

What is a song that is timeless to you?

Lucky Daye has a song called ¨Ego¨. A lot of Frank Ocean stuff, Giveon's first album also. T R A P S O U L by Bryson Tiller, everything Stevie Wonder ever put out. I don't know, there's a lot of stuff (laughs). 

Great ones! What does your debut album PINE mean to you?

It's my first full body of work, so it means a lot to me. The word “pine” is another word for yearning or desire. I really tried my best to pull different aspects of my life and explain that to me, desire is the root of all human decision making, in my eyes. So, I am talking about different ways that it has affected me and the decisions I've made within and outside of intimate and personal relationships. 

Going back to your 15 year old self, in making this album, what did you learn about desire or love that maybe 15 year old you wouldn't have known?

Oh, that's a great question. To manage your expectations for yourself. I have high expectations for myself, not just in music, but in life. And I'm really hard on myself when I mess up, and in making this album - the writing of it, but also just the whole creative process - I was reinforcing the fact that, “Dude, you're gonna mess up and it's okay”. You're gonna say things you’ll regret and mess up, miss notes and all that. I definitely learned to give myself more grace and be easier on myself. You can't expect perfection every day, but you can strive for it every day, you know? 

You mentioned that this is sonically a softer and peaceful album. There's one song I love in particular called "Painful Company”, because it starts slow and then all of a sudden you throw in this exciting guitar and I was like, “Oh, wait, is this a new song”? You have quite a few songs on this album that are like that, they are quite long and take you many places, almost like a jam session. How was the process of recording them?

I had really good guys in there with me where we were making these songs, and while we were making them it would actually just be like a jam session. On some of those songs, I've been thinking about these topics for a while and I had a lot to say. So, we would all just start going, and I would just have a microphone, and it would all just come out. In a lot of these instances we had so much good stuff so, why waste it?

I was intentional about making this music for whoever it's going to be for and not trying my best to capture this specific audience. Music is how I express myself, and even though in the studio I am thinking about what other people are gonna think, I do try my best to make sure my decision making is based on my taste and not other people's. If I'm gonna have any longevity. I have to do what feels right to me. 

What do you think will be other key things for you to do in order to really have a career that comes with longevity? 

Live performances. I'm really excited to go on this tour and learn a lot because I really want that to be a huge part of my career and my business as well. Getting out there and touching the people and seeing how they react to certain things, then going back and changing and trying again. Making great albums, doing great shows and I definitely want to get to the point of giving back and going back to Henderson to provide good things that I didn't have when I was there. 

When you're writing an album you spend so many hours in the studio and you're just constantly thinking about the music. So I'm wondering outside of the music, what were some things you were doing? 

It's hard to say, because it wasn't much (laughs). I like going to the movies, but even that boils back down to music, you know? I go to the movies to get inspiration, hear the sounds, and try to get into the director's head. I like going on hikes because nature is a big thing for me, and also hanging out with my girlfriend - that's always a breath of fresh air. I also love spending time with my family, my nieces and nephews - they're always a ball of energy, so they're pretty distracting.

What would you say is one of your favorite movies? 

Four Brothers (2005). I rewatched it the other day and I was like, “Dang, I used to love this when I was a kid”. I saw it from a different lens this time. It’s so well written, beautifully paced and André’s character is so good, I love watching the character development.

Do you have Letterboxd?

No, but everyone tells me I should.

In your song “Good Enough” you say: I keep chasing change, but it keeps running away from me“. I was just so curious about this line and what inspired it for you. 

Chasing change has many meanings to me, but the biggest one is money. I feel like it's something I’ve sort of chased my whole life, as it is something that I also lacked. I’ve been working since I was 14, and I’ve experienced that feeling of hanging on by a thread. Even though we don’t talk about it enough, I think money plays a big altering role in relationships, there are stigmas around it and it has caused me personally to put pressure on myself. I just decided to talk about it in a song in a way that felt real. When you hear money spoken about in music, it's always glorifying it or it’s about having so much of it. Here, I wanted to speak from the “loser” perspective and to just be honest about it. 

I completely get it. Also in the song you say: “... if I could have changed my name, I would have”. So your name is actually the name of your dad, your granddad and your great granddad - has it ever felt heavy to be James Savage the 4th? 

I'm actually really proud of my name, although sometimes I feel like I don't deserve it. I value my dad so much, and I just see him in this amazing light.

It’s hard for me to wrap my head around him (my dad) making the amount of money he was making, working so hard, working on holidays, etc, and we never lacked anything, we were never cold, we never missed a meal. And that was one of the reasons I chose to use my name in my artistry, because I wanted to immortalize it and I wanted to attach it to something positive and good.

I think your dad will be very happy to know that. So you grew up in a military family as far as I understand, so traveling a bit around and and your dad actually banned some some genres of music or just did not listen to some genres of music at home. 

Yeah, we only listened to gospel. I understand his perspective - I don't fully agree with it, but I definitely understand it. Music is powerful, what you ingest will come out and affect your personality, how you see yourself and how you think. 

What was it like for you when you could start listening to music in other spaces or maybe moving to Louisville and all of a sudden you had free reign on everything you listen to?

It was very eye-opening. It did make me realize that I have a lot to catch up on. I make R&B music and I've been doing my homework because I didn't listen to a lot of the 2000s and early 2010 stuff that was coming out, just because it just wasn't available to me at the time. 

When I found headphones and got a phone at 16, I would just listen to everything because it was all so new, but I understood my dad 's perspective all the more.

That’s fun homework though. Who are your OnesToWatch? 

There's a guy named Liim in New York. He just dropped his song called “Is Loving Really Bad?” and it has not left my speakers since the day it came out.

Listen to PINE below: